Rahm blames McCain for bringing up race

Paying Republicans a backhanded compliment, House Democratic Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel said on Wednesday that the McCain campaign had succeeded in making race a factor in this presidential election.

“They did a good job bringing up a topic they wanted brought up,” Emanuel said. By suggesting the Obama campaign had brought up race first, he added, Republicans had managed to raise the issue without provoking backlash.

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On July 31, John McCain's campaign manager, Rick Davis, accused Barack Obama of playing “the race card,” after the Illinois senator had said Republicans would point out that “he doesn’t look like all those other presidents on the dollar bills.”

“They got it through customs,” Emanuel said, claiming Republicans had raised the race issue under the guise of indignation, as they have done in the past.

Emanuel’s comments came during a breakfast discussion hosted by Politico, The Denver Post and Yahoo News. Joining Emanuel on the panel were former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) and presidential historian Michael Beschloss.

Beschloss agreed with Emanuel that race often played a role in presidential elections, “sometimes in subtler ways.”

Though the panelists discussed the dynamics of the current campaign, they spent much of their time looking forward at a potential Obama administration. Daschle, in particular, drew speculation that he might be chief of staff in an Obama White House.

Answering a question about the most important qualities a president should possess, Beschloss mentioned the ability to “get things through Congress,” noting that Obama’s short experience in Washington could make that a challenge.

But he added, gesturing toward Daschle, “That’s a talent that a president can hire.”

“I don’t know if Tom knows that he’s going to be chief of staff, but I’m sure he’s appreciative of being told this morning,” Emanuel joked later.

The former majority leader, who lost his bid for reelection in South Dakota in 2004, just smiled.

It’s not the first time that Daschle has been mentioned as a potential White House chief of staff. At a Tuesday panel featuring Daschle, Democratic Leadership Council President Bruce Reed predicted the South Dakotan would take the top job in an Obama White House.

On the issue of White House staffing generally, Emanuel, a congressman from Illinois, counseled Obama to choose his top advisers carefully, saying a new president should imagine himself in the Oval Office and ask: “Who do you want to see on the other side of that desk?”

“Put down six names,” Emanuel advised. “You look up, who do you want to see?”

Beschloss added that a president should be willing to dump any advisers who end up being less helpful — or more troublesome — than expected.

“Sometimes you will appoint someone,” Beschloss said, “and sometimes it is not working, and you have to cut the friend adrift. It is excruciatingly painful.”

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Agreeing, Emanuel mentioned Surgeon General Jocelyn Elders, whom Bill Clinton dismissed after she stirred up controversy with comments about contraception and sex education.

If Daschle were to join an Obama administration, he would likely find many familiar faces there.

“The people that I had the good fortune to work with for 25, 26 years,” Daschle said, “in most cases found work with Barack Obama.”

Specifically, Daschle named Pete Rouse, his former chief of staff who’s now Obama’s chief Senate aide; Steve Hildebrand, his former campaign manager who’s Obama’s deputy campaign director; Julianna Smoot, a top fundraiser; Dan Pfeiffer, an Obama spokesman who was Daschle’s 2004 deputy campaign manager; and foreign policy aide Dennis McDonough, who’s playing a similar role with Obama.

“Thirty or 35 of my former staff are working for Barack on different levels,” Daschle said.

And Beschloss, the historian, suggested the migration from Daschle’s staff to Obama’s was an early sign of the Illinois senator’s national political potential.

Regardless of staffing decisions, the panelists agreed that Obama would need an aggressive plan for advancing his agenda if he defeats John McCain this November.

“In the White House, you can be on the pitcher’s mound or you can be in the catcher’s position,” Emanuel explained. “Put points on the board. Show people you can govern. Deliver on what you said you were going to deliver on.”